“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all His laws... If we should perish, the primary cause would be that the strength of a giant nation was directed by eyes too blind to see all the hazards of the struggle; and the blindness would be induced, not by some accident of nature or history, but by hatred and vainglory.”
― Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History

06 December 2018

Bernie Sanders: Concentrated Wealth Is Concentrated Power

"I will never forget, Lloyd Blankfein, the head of Goldman Sachs, came to Congress a few years ago. And this is after the taxpayers of this country bailed them out because of their greed and their illegal behavior. This is chutzpah. These guys, after being bailed out by the middle class and working families of this country, after causing incalculable harm, which–the Wall Street crash cost us millions of jobs, people lost their homes, they lost their life savings.

These guys, after getting bailed out, they come to Congress. They say, you know, what we think Congress should do is you gotta cut Social Security, and Medicare, and Medicaid. And by the way, lower corporate tax rates and give more tax breaks to the wealthy.

That’s power. That’s chutzpah. We have it all, we can do whatever we want to do. And I think the power of Wall Street— you’ve got a half a dozen banks that own over 50 percent, equivalent to 50 percent of the assets in our GDP.

And we have got to stand up to them."

Bernie Sanders

Financial reform is necessary and essential, but of little interest to the established elite.

And so it receives little attention and even less meaningful discussion.

They will discuss any other distracting issue, event, meaningless squabble and gossip, first. They will play the fear card, and identity politics, but won't touch the flow of money that helps to make a few and their enablers, unbelievably rich.

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.

Le Propriétaire

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Need Little - Want Less - Love More

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.

"In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Thereafter, any attack even on the least of men is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all. Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

LET US COMMEND OUR PAST TO HIS ABUNDANT FORGIVENESS, AND TRUST OUR FUTURE TO HIS KINDNESS AND TENDER MERCY. LET US PERMIT OURSELVES TO BE FASHIONED ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, NOT FOR HIS SAKE, BUT FOR OURS. REMEMBER TO FEED THE LEAST OF HIS CREATURES, THE BIRDS AND ANIMALS. AND THE HEARTS OF THOSE YOU MEET, WITH A KIND WORD AND A SMILE.

"A credibility trap is when the managerial functions of a society have been sufficiently compromised by corruption so that the leadership cannot reform, or even honestly address, the problems of that system without implicating a broad swath of the powerful, including themselves.

The moneyed interests and their aspirants tolerate the corruption because they have profited from it, and would like to continue to do so. Discipline is maintained by various forms of soft financial rewards and career and social coercion."

These are personal observations about the economy and the markets. In providing information, I hope this allows you to make your own decisions in an informed manner, even if it is from learning by my mistakes, which are many. As a standing policy I never provide individual investment advice to anyone. I will only occasionally disclose my personal positions for purposes of illustration. Understand that my own circumstances could differ greatly from your own, and therefore what is suitable for me may not be suitable for you. My comments are intended to be reflection on general macro financial and economic events and trends.